Centurion: Your eyes are meant to witness pretty. Your eyes are left to watch anything but that. While the grit and fight is cool, it is not so when you watch Cheteshwar Pujara's troubled knees at war with his mind. He wants three, he runs as fast as he could, he dives as hard and long as his body allows him to stretch. All in vain. Two innings in a Test, Pujara's mind tried to cash cheques his body could not. Pujara is out, run-out twice in a row. India are in trouble, twice in a row. Advantage South Africa, twice in a row.
Was Pujara the next Dravid? Maybe, yes. Is he still India's next Dravid? Maybe, not. Is it painful to see his struggles? Maybe, yes. Is it something new? Maybe, not. Do big-on-intent Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri like Pujara? We don’t know. Is the time running out for Pujara, the batsman? Possibly, yes. More so, if India are playing abroad, outside the subcontinent against the top Test playing nations like England, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
In 56 Tests and 94 innings, Pujara has 4445 runs at an average of 51.09 with 14 hundreds and a highest score of 206 not out. But let’s take the home games and the matches against West Indies and Sri Lanka – purely because the two have been a pale shadow of their previous glory and struggling at home and in away conditions – and Bangladesh, who are yet to find their feet in Test cricket - out of equation and Pujara’s run-scoring record takes a massive dip.
Overseas concerns
While Pujara boasts a record of 1072 runs in 13 Tests, with five hundreds and average of 71.46, against these three countries, exclude these three countries and let’s focus on Pujara’s performance against the big four. If one focuses on his overall record against England, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, it makes for an impressive data of 3373 runs in 43 Tests at an average of 46.84, with nine hundreds and a highest score of 206. But then, the stats take a downward curve when India travels abroad. Pujara’s record plunges to 843 runs in 16 Tests and 31 innings, with a solitary hundred, which came in South Africa in 2013, and three fifties against his name, and at an average of 27.19, a whopping 23.90 less than his career average of 51.09.
While his ability to grind down the opposition is well documented and held in high esteem, Pujara has struggled in the overseas conditions. And with India on the road, playing nine Tests in England and Australia, over the next 12 months, Pujara’s record in the two countries is a cause of concern. If anything, it adds more pressure on the batsmen to follow.
Time running out?
Although there is no denying that he looked in mood for a marathon in the first innings of the Cape Town Test, he got out chasing a ball moving way outside the off stump. And while, Pujara’s efforts must be appreciated, is it about time to drop Pujara from India’s Test line-up on tough foreign tours, merely on the grounds of his record and not for his intent?
